SOUTH BEND – The Reds are coming, the Reds are coming – to Notre Dame Stadium this summer.

Finally making official the worst-kept secret in professional soccer, Notre Dame and Liverpool FC announced Tuesday the popular Premier League power will include the House That Rockne Built on its 2019 three-match preseason tour.

Liverpool is in the midst of the English Premier League title race. This summer, the Reds will head to South Bend.(Photo: Mike Hewitt, Getty Images)

Liverpool FC will play eight-time German Bundesliga champion Borussia Dortmund at 8 p.m. on Friday July 19. The friendly will mark the first competitive soccer match in Notre Dame Stadium's 90-year history.

With a listed capacity of 77,000 at Notre Dame Stadium, the match should obliterate the previous record for the largest crowd to witness soccer in the state. That came in 2013, when 41,983 saw Inter Milan (Italy) play Chelsea (England) on a Thursday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.

"It will be a festive atmosphere; we're certain of it," Billy Hogan, Liverpool's chief commercial officer, said in a phone interview. "Notre Dame Stadium is one of the most iconic stadiums in all of sport."

Tickets for the Notre Dame match will go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster (www.LiverpoolFC.com/tickets). Prices range from $50 to $600.

"This is a perfect event for Notre Dame in that it combines iconic sports brands, celebrates a sport that is of great importance to us -- as evidenced by our four NCAA soccer titles -- and addresses the growing international reach of our university," Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement. "We look forward to hosting Liverpool FC and invite its fans from throughout North America and the world to visit us for the match against Dortmund."

Last July Liverpool played in front of 101,000 at Michigan Stadium and drew large crowds for matches in New Jersey (52,000) and North Carolina (51,000). In addition to Notre Dame Stadium, the Reds will play Sporting CP on July 24 at Yankee Stadium and Spain's Sevilla FC on July 21 at Boston’s Fenway Park, close to their planned weeklong training base at Harvard University.

As at Michigan Stadium, a temporary grass playing surface will be installed over the FieldTurf that Notre Dame has used since 2014.

Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, purchased the Liverpool club and its historic Anfield home pitch in 2010.

Founded in 1892, Liverpool FC has won five European Cups, more than any other English competitor, along with 18 league titles, seven FA Cups and a record eight League Cups. It adopted its trademark all-red home kit in 1964, and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” has been its internationally known anthem since 1963.

That same year Liverpool-based pop band Gerry and the Pacemakers recorded a cover version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune from the 1945 musical “Carousel.”

"It’s a pretty magical moment to hear ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ sung before any match," Hogan said. "It’s a terrific song and it means so much to the club.”

With tens of thousands of Liverpool fans likely to make the trip from around the world, Hogan said lyric sheets probably wouldn't be necessary.

“We’ll count on everybody doing a little bit of homework,” Hogan said with a laugh. “We’re going to university, right? Do a little homework and study up on the words. No, you’ll have enough people around you that will know the words."

Some close observers of Liverpool FC were surprised the club didn’t head back to Asia for its traditional alternate-year tour of the Far East. In 2017 Liverpool visited Hong Kong, and two years earlier it was Thailand, Malaysia and Australia that made the much-anticipated itinerary.

However, the popularity of last year’s preseason tour, which came within the confines of the International Champions Cup, encouraged Liverpool officials to set out on their own this time. Monsoon conditions in Hong Kong were also a major concern in 2017.

Liverpool’s visit will become the third major non-football event at Notre Dame Stadium within a calendar year, following a Garth Brooks concert last October and the NHL’s Winter Classic on New Year’s Day. In addition, Notre Dame played outdoor hockey against rival Michigan at the updated stadium in early January.

Including six home football games last fall and the recent Blue-Gold Game, Notre Dame Stadium has drawn 679,354 fans to 10 events over the past calendar year.

Notre Dame opens its 2019 home football slate on Sept. 14 against New Mexico and former Fighting Irish coach Bob Davie. That should leave plenty of time for restoring the playing surface after the Liverpool visit.

While this will be the third Fenway appearance in recent years for Liverpool and its second trip to Yankee Stadium in the past five years, Hogan suggested a return visit to northern Indiana might take some time.

“The club is truly a global club and has fans all over the world,” he said. “It does mean it’s unlikely we will come back to the same venue in the near term. We’re savoring the opportunity.”